Do you ever wander down alleys?

I love wandering down alleys in search of images. Back streets, alleys...they are often overlooked but I think they are rich in photographic opportunities. Don't you?

find life experiences and swallow them whole. travel. meet many people. go down some dead ends and explore dark alleys. try everything. exhaust yourself in the glorious pursuit of life. - lawrence k. fish

That is definitely one of my all-time favorite quotes. It's just so awesome and inspirational, and I happen to think that it's also great advice. Do I do all that stuff? Maybe yes sometimes, and other times no. I'm not going to lie and say I am some total "carpe diem" maniac living life to its fullest. I do my part, I think, and have a good time, but it's not all fun and games, as the old saying goes. It just can't be.

Anyways, I didn't really mean to get into all that, just rambling here at the keyboard. :-)

I was in Bratislava about 2 years ago, and still think about it often. It's a beautiful town and I found quite a bit to shoot there. I also wandered a lot of the old back streets and came home with a lot of images like this one that I just happen to really like. They're not going to get published, and likely will never sell, but I just don't really care. They're meaningful to me despite their relative insignificance. Does that make any sense?

Plus, I just happen to like all the detail, texture, and all the lines that your eye follows here.

Oh and before I ramble on too much and forget, here is a screen shot from Color Efex Pro that I grabbed while I was editing this one. I actually went a little dark on the HDR in Photomatix but after a few filters it's looking good!